Diamond electrodes are today used especially in a multiplicity of different applications. In processor fabrication, a multiplicity of different layers with intricate structures are presently applied. To ensure proper functioning, the surfaces to be coated must generally be cleaned and conditioned. For each layer to be applied, an average of two to three cleaning and surface conditioning operations are performed. Different kinds of impurities here must be removed using different kinds of cleaning fluids. For organic impurities, for example, ozonized water is used, whereas particles disposed on the surface are removed using cathodic water. Anodic water, for example, is used to remove metallic impurities. In order to remove surfaces and final impurities, it is also possible for a special anodic water to be used that contains a mixture of dilute hydrofluoric acid and ozone.
For the production of all these cleaning solutions, diamond electrodes in corresponding electrode arrangements can nowadays be used.
Diamond electrodes can consist of solid single crystals of diamond, but in this embodiment are very expensive. Known practice in the prior art, therefore, is to produce diamond electrodes from a base material which is coated with a thin layer of diamond. The base material used here is often a metal, so that the currents needed to produce the various cleaning solutions can be conducted effectively to the electrode surface.
A disadvantage, however, is that metal electrodes merely coated with a layer of diamond harbor the risk of metallic impurities occurring in the cleaning solution. Moreover, metallic materials can be machined with the requisite accuracy only using very elaborate methods which, correspondingly, are cost-intensive.